HMRC’s latest performance report has shown improved call wait times thanks to increased staffing. In April 2024, just over half of callers reached an adviser, reaching 85% by December. However, 15% of taxpayers still couldn’t get through.
December saw 1.86 million calls to HMRC, the lowest for the 2024/25 tax year so far, down from 2.1m in December 2023. The shift towards digital services is evident, with webchat usage more than doubling year on year. Between April and December 2024, 1.28m taxpayers used webchat, up from 530,430 in 2022/23.
Following investment in helplines, the average wait time fell from 28 minutes 34 seconds in April to 18 minutes 47 seconds in December. Meanwhile, webchat has overtaken phone lines for efficiency, handling 95.1% of contact attempts compared to 85% of calls. Both figures show an improvement in 2023 when just 70% of calls were answered.
Taxpayer satisfaction rose to 81.7% in December, its highest level in 2024. However, ease-of-use scores remain low, with HMRC’s “net easy rating” at just 66 out of 100, suggesting a third of users still find the service difficult.
With the recent self assessment deadline, HMRC’s ability to handle peak demand was tested. The next report will reveal whether increased staffing and digital services managed to sustain these improvements under pressure.
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